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Memory Lane The Kursaal ground

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My Grand Father told me stories of minding peoples cars outside the ground while they watched the game. He said he used to sneak in just after kick off and be back outside before the punter came back for their car.
 
sammy666 said:
I remember as a youngster going on this ride. I made the mistake of being in the first car. no safety harness. I had to hold on with all my strength to keep myself in the car. I was absolutely terrified
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Well it was 1931!
 
sammy666 said:
llllThe Kursaal long lost ground of Southend United 1919 to 1934 built inside an amusement park

Most grounds have a boot room. This had a ballroom

View attachment 26750
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Great photo - taken from a plane?

It looks like one of the away grounds we’d play in this league when we outnumber the home fans and the crowd would be like 2736.

What was the capacity?
 
Yorkshire Blue said:
Great photo - taken from a plane?

It looks like one of the away grounds we’d play in this league when we outnumber the home fans and the crowd would be like 2736.

What was the capacity?
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I can't find the capacity but the biggest crowd was a cup tie vs Notts Forest of 18,153.

While at the Kursaal we had a striker called Jim Shankly who was the older brother of Bill
 
It looks a more modern facility than Roots Hall does.

Ah, the bands I saw in that ballroom...
 
It had been clear during the first season that if the club was to stay at the Kursaal ground then the need for a grandstand was paramount, and in the close season a 1,500 seater stand was built on the eastern side, (Arnold Avenue). For the opening game of the season the stand was still under construction, but that didn’t stop the parts already finished being filled to the rafters. During the season further improvements to the embankments, crash barriers and terracing were undertaken especially because of the Cup run when it was claimed that the ground could hold 23,000 but this was nowhere near tested in this the first season in the League

As the crowds got bigger the atmosphere at the Kursaal became more charged. It was a tight ground, still being developed at considerable cost with extra banking, and sometimes difficult to police. Hundreds of spectators regularly got in without paying as attendances often pushed the 8,000 mark, and in the days when spectators were expected to be impartial, those within the enclosure were known widely for being uncompromisingly pro-Southend.
From: The official History of Southend United” by Peter Mason and Dave Goody

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First match of the season 1920-21 Southend United v Brighton 28th August 1920

Southend’s first game in the football league took place on the fourth Saturday of August at the Kursaal football ground where they beat Brighton 2-0 in front of an opening gate of 10,000 fans. Fairclough was the outstanding forward on the pitch, and from the very start of the match he impressed the spectators. The first goal was due to a miss kick from a Brighton defender which gave possession to Nicholls who rounded his man and sent in a perfect centre for Fairclough to head home, giving the defenders no chance of stopping it and this brought a tremendous roar from the spectators. The lead was almost doubled within a minute, but the goalkeeper, Hayes saved the day for Brighton and at half time the lead was just the one goal. The second half started with further chances notably from Wileman who in one of his characteristic runs sent in a blistering shot which was only inches wide. The second goal was scored after fifty five minutes when good work by Wileman set up Fairclough with a shot that he hurled into the net above the heads of the Brighton defenders. Team: Capper; Reid and Newton; Wileman, Henderson and Martin; Nicholls, Nuttall, Fairclough, Myers and Dorsett.
 
The ride next to the ground was called The Water Chute. You came down it in a boat resembling a World War II landing craft. The ride was still there in the Sixties when I (and Helen Mirren) worked in the Kursaal.
 
barton west said:
The ride next to the ground was called The Water Chute. You came down it in a boat resembling a World War II landing craft. The ride was still there in the Sixties when I (and Helen Mirren) worked in the Kursaal.
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I doubt the boat was in the style of a WWII landing craft when Southend played there though.
 
Does anybody know which 3 roads going North-South are on view in the photo? Trying to get bearings of exactly where it was situated.
 
 
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